Taken
by HerRenegadeHeart
Summary: Higgins had scarcely laid eyes on Magnum in the parking lot he'd asked her to meet him in before a black cargo van pulled up and a group of masked men jumped out, tossing a bag over his head and dragging him inside. (Part 6 of the Defenseless Series)


_"I tell myself I have to build defenses_  
_'Cause once you are in love, you are defenseless_  
_Everything was easy when it meant less_  
_But once you are in love, you are defenseless."_

Askjell _\- To Be Loved ft. AURORA_

**#6 of the Defenseless Series**

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Higgins had scarcely laid eyes on Magnum in the parking lot he'd asked her to meet him in before a black cargo van pulled up and a group of masked men jumped out, tossing a bag over his head and dragging him inside.

"Magnum!"

The van peeled away and took off out of the parking lot.

Higgins cursed and glanced around. Her car was parked across the street and it would take too much time to get to. The red Ferrari, however, was only fifty feet in front of her. She darted for it and jumped right in, bypassing the door. She always had the extra key fob attached to her other one just in case she ever needed to forcibly remove the vehicle from Magnum's possession, so when she pressed the start button, the car roared eagerly to life. She took off after the van.

She tore out onto the street the van had taken off down, just barely swerving to miss a bus that had stopped to pick up passengers. She wrapped her hands tightly around the steering wheel and focused on the road. The van may have gotten a head start, but it was nowhere near as fast as she was.

Her phone had automatically synced with the Ferrari's bluetooth, so when she tapped the voice control button and said, "Call T.C.," she was immediately met by ringing.

_"Higgy?"_ the familiar, warm voice answered. _"To what do I owe the—"_

"Magnum's been taken," she interrupted.

There wasn't even a pause from the man to process. Higgins had found that at this point, T.C. and Rick were so used to their friend being in trouble that they didn't generally need too much time to comprehend things. _"What? When?"_

"Three minutes ago," Juliet replied. "Masked men pulled him into a black cargo van. I'm following in the Ferrari."

In the background she heard another voice and when T.C. called into the distance, _"Magnum's been taken!"_ she realized he must have had Rick there with him. _"Where are you?" _he asked her.

"Heading north down Moa. No, scratch that! Now west down…" she waited to see the name of the street as she got to the corner and ripped the car to the left, "Iliau."

It occurred to Higgins in that moment that a normal person would have called HPD first before family or friends, but somehow spending so much time with Magnum had made her view his friends as more important "Is Rick with you?"

_"I'm here, Higgins." _

It seemed that T.C. had turned on his speaker phone.

"Call HPD. Relay what is going on, see if they can put up some road blocks."

_"On it."_

_"We're up in the air in five, Higgy," T.C. told her. "Stay on him."_

"I won't lose him," she said both to them and to herself. She would not let them get away with Magnum.

An opening appeared and she used the Ferrari's speed to her advantage, roaring ahead and making it to two cars behind them. She tried to swerve into the other lane to go around the last two obstacles, but on-coming traffic, horns blaring, had her retreating right back into her lane.

A stoplight ahead turned yellow and the cars in front of her started slowing down, everyone except the van. They plowed right through it. She cursed when she got stuck behind the others.

She was going to lose him.

_No. _Losing him wasn't an option. She had made a promise.

She waited until there was an opening in the oncoming traffic before she veered into the other lane and tore through the red light, just barely missing a lime green SUV. She glanced into the rear-view mirror just in time to see the Jeep Renegade dodge a sedan and end up in the ditch on the side of the road. She winced.

Higgins swerved through another grouping of cars before she punched it and was finally able to get directly behind the van. She grit her teeth in determination.

But then things changed. They must have realized she was behind them. Really, it was hard to _not_ notice the big, red tallywacker, and not for the first time, she cursed the ostentatious vehicle. It was fast, but it was most definitely not built for stealth.

The van sped up and swerved dangerously in and out of traffic, clearly trying to cause some sort of accident to slow her down. With years defensive driving under her belt, naturally quick reflexes, and pinch of luck, she threaded through every obstacle and remained directly on their tail.

Juliet considered her options. There were very few ways to end a vehicle pursuit when there was no backup yet. She could just keep following, she supposed, but she also knew the longer she waited, the more chances the thugs in the van had to lose her. Not to mention there was a greater risk to Magnum's life the longer he remained with them.

As she worked through several scenarios in mind, she saw something that made all options, but one disappear — the bridge. It was a drawbridge and she could see a boat approaching. A second later, the lights on it began to flash, alerting that the bridge was going to go up. And Higgins wasn't the only one who noticed it, because the van made a direct beeline for it, blowing through another red light in an attempt to get to it.

Higgins felt anxiety flare in her chest. If they were able to get over it just as the bridge was going up, she wouldn't be able to follow.

She had to stop them and she had to stop them now.

"Sorry, Robin," she murmured a second before she swerved back into the other lane and floored it, bringing her directly next to the back tire on the left of the van. She took a bracing breath and then slammed the nose of the Ferrari into the van. It immediately fishtailed unsteadily until it hit the curb and then it suddenly flipped into the air, coming crashing down onto its side a second later. It skidded, metal grinding, a good forty yards before it came to a stop.

As she slammed on the breaks and threw the Ferrari in the park, the chant of, _be alright, be alright, _echoed in her mind. She grabbed Magnum's gun from beneath the driver's seat and got out. She moved cautiously toward the van even though everything in her wanted to run.

She trained the pistol on the windshield as she approached, but when she saw that the driver was unconscious, or possibly even dead, posing no threat, she moved past and headed for the rear. Posting herself to the side of the van so she wouldn't be in direct line of sight, she reached for the handle and pulled it, dropping the door open.

To her relief, she was _not_ met by an immediate spray of bullets, but she was also not met by… anything. No sounds, no groaning, no movement. Nothing.

Fear immediately chilled her and she had to consciously control her breathing to keep it regulated.

She took just a moment before she stepped out directly in front of the back of the van. Still nothing. She lifted the second door, holding it above her as she peered inside. She was met by a tangle of limbs. One, two, three – she counted three men plus, "Magnum!"

Tucking the pistol into the back of her trousers, she waded into the piled bodies, moving this arm and hefting this leg until she had untangled him. She reached forward and pulled the hood from his head and with shaky fingers, reached for his pulse. She waited one second, two second, and then there! There it was. He was alive.

Relief flooded her, making her momentarily dizzy, but she shook it off and went about quickly assessing Magnum. An angry-looking bruised adorned his right temple and there was a trickle of blood coming from his bottom lip, but apart from that, she didn't see anything external.

One of the men beside her groaned and she instantly grabbed her weapon, turning it on him. It seemed he was slowly coming to. She didn't want to be trapped inside that tin can when he finally woke up, so she hooked her arms underneath Magnum's and began dragging him out of the back of the van.

It took her a minute or two to get him all the way out as he was a fair bit heavier than he looked. All muscle, he'd no doubt inform her if she ever admitted to struggling with him. She would definitely be sure not to admit to it.

When he was safely out of the van and lying on the pavement, she darted quickly back into the van, pulling out all of the guns she could see before retreating. She closed the back doors and secured them with the strap off of one of their rifles.

A moan caught her attention and she could see Magnum moving, reaching up for his head. She jogged back over to his side and knelt beside him. "Magnum, can you hear me?"

"Higgins?" he murmured, face pinched in clear pain. "What the hell...?"

"You were kidnapped," she told him. "Bagged and tossed into a van."

It took him a minute, but then he cracked open his eyes and cautiously glanced around. He paused when he saw it. "...Why is the van on it's side?"

Higgins made a flustered little sound and leaned over him, checking his pupils before taking his wrist in her hands to check his pulse. "I saved your life. Are the details really all the necessary?"

His eyes grew wide. "You flipped the van? With me inside?"

She sat back on her heels with a huff. "My intent wasn't to _flip _the van…"

"And yet it's on it's side. What did you flip it with?" His eyes tracked away from her and easily spotted the Ferrari… with the slight dent and shattered headlight. His expression grew forlorn. "I don't have to pay for that, do I?"

Before she could reply, the sound of both approaching sirens and a helicopter interrupted her. She looked to the sky to see the familiar bird approaching and they watched as T.C. expertly maneuvered it down onto the ground in a big open space right before the bridge.

"The cavalry has arrived," Rick announced as he and T.C. jogged up, weapons in hand.

"No, she definitely already arrived," Magnum said, drawing all attention over to Higgins. "She flipped the van, too. With me inside."

"Damn, Higgy," T.C. commented.

Higgins rolled her eyes. "Next time I'll just let them get away with you, shall I?" she groused. Secretly, though, she was pleased. She'd saved him. Maybe he was a bit worse for wear, but he would heal. She, however, she never would have healed if she had lost him.

_END_

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_Author's Note:_ Admittedly my least favorite of the Defenseless Series so far, but I venture it's still mildly amusing to some.


End file.
